Lovely Creations for your Home Sweet Home

Blushing Bride

I always thought it would be fun to be the creative genius behind those clever nail polish names that Essie or OPI boasts. So when the time came to create a custom color for a VERY special customer, I started dreaming of an unforgettably catchy name…

One week prior, when first approached by aforementioned client, we were asked to paint a small, round side table to feature in a newly decorated living room. A pinkish, plum color was requested to coordinate with her reading chair. So I consulted our Annie Sloan color wheel and we decided upon Henrietta. Well, once painted and paired with the fabric, it was clearly a no-go! I knew my incredibly stylish customer wouldn’t approve. That’s when the highly scientific experiment began. It was obvious we needed more of a brown hue to tone down this fushia color! Enter Coco and Paloma (stage left).

So I broke out the Mason jar to begin crafting my concoction. Now those who know me well, know that I like to plan but loathe fractions (really anything dealing with math). To stumble upon this perfect color, I needed to measure it in parts. But what do parts really mean? With a little help from a consultant (Google) I decided that 1/8 cups sounded like a perfect “part”. In the end, the winning mixture was 3 parts Coco, 2 parts Henrietta, and 1 part Paloma. I don’t have extra measuring cups for paint just lying around the house, so I measured it out with water first, then poured each “part” in the jar and marked it with a Sharpie. The marks showed me what to pour the paint up to, so I had the perfect amount (not bad for a mathematically-challenged gal!) After the three paint colors were in, it was time to shake that jar like a Polaroid picture.

This was the first time that Made Lovely attempted to create our own homemade color with chalk paint and I was a bit nervous. Would the colors truly blend together? Would the paint stay the same the creamy consistency that makes Annie such a joy to paint with? The answer- 100 percent YES. So after giving it a good second coat in this new color, it was time for clear wax and distressing. The result was pretty good… almost there but still not perfect for this lovely customer of mine.

So, I cracked open the dark wax and starting rubbing. The key to dark wax is to work quickly. Once it’s on, it will settle in. A “Karate Kid”- wax on, wax off motion is my application of choice. I am not going to lie, I do get butterflies in my stomach every time I first streak on some greasy, dark wax to my freshly painted pieces. Thank goodness, nothing with Annie Sloan paint is final. If you decide that there is too much dark wax in a place, a simple reapplication of clear wax over it and a little bit of elbow grease will remove most of it. So, wax on, wax off… It was ready for it’s debut after the dark wax was applied. What do we call this gorgeous Made Lovely color? Plum Putty (no… not enough purple for that name) Meg’s Mauve (no… Mauve is too blah and out-dated). My friend and partner in crime, Marie suggested Blushing Bride… After all, it is the perfect marriage of colors she explained. Brilliant! So, it turns out that naming new nail polish colors isn’t in the cards for me. That’s okay- who needs three jobs anyways? 😉

Here’s the finished project in its new home. Our happy customer shared these pictures… so glad you like it Mom! XOXO